How a Philly father-daughter duo is working to build an inclusive community through their MMA gym
It was Michael Sulit's passion project to open an MMA gym. Now, he's managing everything with his daughter, Shea, as they work to create a more welcoming community in combat sports.
Black and red mats stretched out underneath dozens of students pivoting across the floor on the balls of their feet as they found the rhythm to strike the bag in front of them. On one side of the room, several flags hung on the wall, representing each nationality of students. Across from that, 33-year-old Christina Massie trained beside 69-year-old Don Spector.
Every Monday, students walk into Fight Club Philadelphia on Girard Avenue, take off their sneakers, and prepare to participate in the gym’s fight fitness classes — hitting a bag for 20 minutes, followed by weightlifting for another 20 minutes with a five-minute cooldown.
“We truly transcend sports,” said 57-year-old Michael Sulit. “I’ve had Croatian fighters train next to Russian fighters. As sick as the world is, there’s no barriers, no borders. We have 69-year-old men training with 24-year-old women. There’s no boundaries.”
The martial arts gym with a focus on striking has made it its mission to create a more inclusive community in combat sports and welcomes students of all levels. And father-daughter duo Michael and Shea Sulit are leading the charge.
“It’s such a tight-knit community, and that’s something me and my dad really take pride in because the gym is somewhere that can be intimidating for a lot of people, and that’s the last thing we want our space to feel like,” said Shea, 31. “Fighting is something that’s intimidating, and some gyms can really put a lot of pressure on you to fit into the mold. But we like to take the everyday person and give them somewhere where they feel strong and empowered.”
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‘It’s a blessing’
Fighting has been in Michael’s blood since his childhood in the Philippines. Martial arts was part of students’ daily schedules at Central Philippine University, an American-based school.
“We didn’t have football or basketball or baseball,” Michael said. “We had martial arts. So, when I was a kid in school, gym for us wasn’t like dodgeball or duck, duck, goose. It’s martial arts. And if you’re good at it, your gym teacher calls your dad and goes, ‘Yeah, this kid’s going to need fight camp.’”
Michael went to a fight academy at age 7. Six months later, he was taking fights that adults would gamble on. At 10 years old, he moved to Philadelphia, where his love for combat sports grew with the rise of the UFC.
Michael was working in corporate sales for a food distributor for 20 years — but it wasn’t enough. That’s when he came up with the idea for Fight Club Philadelphia.
“It was a passion project,” Michael said. “It was crazy; it was full-on insanity. Everyone in my whole family said, ‘You’re freaking insane; you’re nuts.’”
The gym opened in March 2018 on Market Street. Nearly two years later, Shea joined the business, coaching a number of classes at the gym.
”Some days are good. Some days are bad,” Michael said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a blessing. She tells me when I’m wrong; she tells me when I’m out of line. And I’m blessed. I see her every day. Who can say that, you know?”
‘Everybody should be able to protect themselves’
Michael followed the violence in the city closely as he raised two daughters, Shea and Arden, who attended Temple. A year before he opened his gym, a Temple student, Jenna Burleigh, was murdered after meeting a man at a bar.
Seeing something like this happen so close to home made Michael realize he wanted to find a way to help the community.
“Being a girl dad played a big part in this,” Michael said. “I think that everybody should be able to protect themselves and be empowered, especially women.”
Unlike most MMA gyms, Fight Club Philadelphia has a majority female members, and several compete regionally.
“Learning self-defense as a woman in general was extremely important for me, and then also living in an urban setting furthered that,” Shea said. “So it’s something I really wanted to take seriously, but then I just fell in love with it and turned it more into a passion.
“It’s an incredibly male-dominated field — most sports are. Men are supposed to be masculine, women are not. We’re not supposed to be seen in that light, and I really just wanted to change that. I wanted to give women the opportunity to step into that space and be ‘masculine’ if they want to.”
‘It’s not a traditional gym’
Fight Club Philadelphia offers a range of classes for beginners and experts, including Thai Pads, Next Level Team, and its most popular class, Fight Fitness.
“People come here to get fit and learn how to fight and lift and get in shape,” Michael said. “It’s not a gym; it’s a family. It’s a third space, and you can really make some good relationships.”
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Diana Mousetis, a 36-year-old Philadelphia native, has been a member of the gym since 2018. After watching a fight on TV at the bar, she decided to give it a shot and has never left.
“It’s a wonderful community here. It’s what keeps me coming back,” Mousetis said. “Knowing how to defend yourself is really important, especially as a woman. It’s definitely come in handy for me, unfortunately. … When you have nothing else on hand, you’ve got your two fists, and you’ve got feet, knees, and elbows, too. So learn how to use them.”
